Calcifying aponeurotic fibroma features seen on fine‐needle aspiration biopsy: Case report and brief review of the literature

Abstract

Calcifying aponeurotic fibroma is a rare benign soft tissue proliferation, which occurs in the distal extremities in children. We describe a case of calcifying aponeurotic fibroma of the hand in a 9 year-old male diagnosed by FNA. Clinically and radiographically this mass was felt to be suspicious for sarcoma, likely alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma. Cytologic examination revealed benign appearing spindled cells, chondroid cells, multinucleated giant cells and calcific debris. These features recapitulate the classic histologic features of calcifying aponeurotic fibroma. Conservative excision was performed and histologic exam confirmed the diagnosis. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first description of the cytologic features of this entity.

Recurrent Calcifying Aponeurotic Fibroma of the Thumb: Case Report

“…Cytological features of such lesions were described by Tai et al 5 Fine-needle aspiration biopsy revealed highly cellular, abundant, benign-appearing spindle cells with small oval nuclei, fine chromatin, smooth nuclear contours, and small chromocenters. Chondroid cells, multinucleated giant cells, fragments of myxoid stroma, several small blood vessels, and coarse calcified debris were identified.…”

“…3,4 Conservative surgical resection as both a therapeutic and a diagnostic intervention is the only treatment recommendation published in the literature. 5 There have been no reports regarding treatment of recurrence or reconstruction if the tumor involves critical tissues.…”

MRI features of calcifying aponeurotic fibroma in the upper arm: a case report and review of the literature

“…In one case report, the specific MRI sequence was not described; we reviewed the remaining 11 reports, including 9 case reports, 1 case series that included 6 patients, and a case contained in a pictorial essay [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]. Table 1 summarizes the patient characteristics and clinical findings of these 11 previous reports.…”

“…In addition, less frequently involved sites include the neck, thigh, forearm, popliteal fossa, and lumbosacral region [2]. Only a limited number of published studies describe the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features of calcifying aponeurotic fibroma of the upper or lower extremities [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. We here report the atypical MRI findings of calcifying aponeurotic fibroma in a 23-year-old female who presented with an intermuscular mass affecting her left upper arm.…”

Calcifying Aponeurotic Fibroma of the Hand: Radiologic Differentiation from Giant Cell Tumors of the Tendon Sheath

“…7 Scattered foci of chondroid differentiation are a distinguishing feature. 5,10 Recently, cytologic features have been reported 11 and suggest that diagnosis with fineneedle aspiration biopsy is possible to aid in differentiation from soft-tissue sarcomas.…”